"The human factor will decide the fate of war, of all wars. Not the Mirage, nor any other plane, and not the screwdriver, or the wrench or radar or missiles or all the newest technology and electronic innovations. Men—and not just men of action, but men of thought. Men for whom the expression 'By ruses shall ye make war' is a philosophy of life, not just the object of lip service."
IDF-AF commander Ezer Weizman:On Eagles' Wings

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Sunday, May 9, 2010

Villagers at Indo-Pak border in Jaisalmer district had some awful moments when two unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) landed in their fields recently. A few villagers, after finding the vehicles unmanned, dismantled them and took away some of its parts.

Though Air Force officials are mum over the incident, it was learnt that the two Nishant UAVs, during a trial, had lost their way due to change in wind direction and they were landed through parachute. The vehicles were towed away from the spot and are being repaired at present.

With two UAVs crash landings in three days, effectiveness of Defense Research and Development Organization's (DRDO) Nishant UAVs has come under scanner. Though officials of the armed forces through their portal have expressed satisfaction over the test results, situation at ground zero tells a different story.

Last week on April 28 and 30, two trial runs at the Pokhran field firing range resulted into crash landing and that too outside the set range, resulting in damage to the vehicles.

DRDO maintains that these landings were a result of sudden change in wind direction and some minor technical faults which drove them in a different direction, but they were well controlled and were landed safely using parachutes. It is learnt that ever since incident took place, video quality, tracking ability, firing rage of the UAV is being evaluated.

According to sources, on April 28 Nishant was launched from mobile hydro-pneumatic launcher, but in a matter of a few minutes, it deviated from the set path and landed in Chacha village near firing range. Similar incident happened a day after on April 30, when the UAV lost the track and landed merely 200 metres from Lathi police station. Cops at the PS confirmed the crash landing.

While the UAV was damaged by the crash landing, on both the occasions, before air force personnel could reach the site, villagers managed to break into the aircraft and took away quite a few equipment.

Confirming the news, a DRDO official said, "The user trials were going on and during the flight there were some technical snags owing to which the craft was landed using parachutes." He said, "But the landing was done safely and no one was hurt in the process. Though before our officials could reach to get the craft back, villagers damaged the aircraft and took away some equipment."

The official maintained that it wasn't a crash landing and that they were in control of the vehicle. "The wind direction and minor technical snag did us in, but we at no moment lost control of the UAV," the officer asserted. The technical team working on UAVs says that the vehicles will fly after repair.............Source